Crimping apparatus



Sept 1961 E. H. SHATTUCK ET AL 3,000,060

CRIMPING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed. Jan. 8, 1959 5 W m? H mm; m w wr m w7 ms A 6 J. Z O o mwm he M United States Patent G 3,000,060 CRIMPING APPARATUS Ewart H. Shattuck and Andrew A. Benedek, Wilmington,

DeL, assignors to Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co., Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 8, 1959, Ser. No. 785,619 14 Claims. (Cl. 1966) This invention relates to stufier crimpers and has for an object to provide a novel and improved feed mechanism for such a crimper adapted to maintain uniform conditions within the crimping chamber.

Another object is to provide feed mechanism for a crimping apparatus of the above type which is adapted to distribute the yarn uniformly over the cross section of the crimping chamber.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

The nature of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which certain specific embodiments have been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a stuifer ciimper embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial vertical section taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sections similar to FIG. 2 showing further embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken on line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are transverse sections taken on the lines 77 and 88 respectively of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 9 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a further embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawings more in detail the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as applied to a stufier crimper for imparting a permanent saw-tooth crimp to textile fibers of the type wherein setting is eiiected while the fibers are still confined. As for example, the treatment may be applied to thermoplastic fibers such as nylon, cellulose acetate, Dacron, Orlon, or the like, in the form of continuous filament tow, staple fibers in the form of sliver or twisted or spun yarn.

.. The apparatus comprises a housing 10 having a vertical bore in which a sleeve 11 is fixed, as by a press fit. A tube 12 forming the crimping chamber is adjustably secured within the sleeve 11 by a clamping nut 13 on the split lower end of the sleeve 11. A pair of feed rolls 15 and 16 are disposed at the lower end of the tube 12 to feed the yarn into the tube for crimping. The tube is formed with slots to receive the feed rolls to an extent such that the tube encloses the bite of the rolls to form a confined crimping Zone.

The roll 16 is carried by a shaft 17 journaled for rotation about a fixed axis in the housing 10. The roll 15 is mounted on a shaft 18 journaled in a bracket 19 which is pivoted to the housing 10. The feed roll 15 is held in pressure contact with the roll 16 by a weight 20 attached to a cord 21 passing over a pulley 22 and attached to the bracket 19. The shaft 17 carries a gear 25 for the purpose to be described, and a driven gear 26 which is driven by a suitable source of power, not shown.

A guide roll 30 having a groove 31 which extends around its periphery in a plane inclined to the normal to the axis of the roll 30 is mounted on a shaft 32 journaled in fixed brackets 33 projecting downwardly from the housing 10. The shaft 32 carrim a gear 34 meshing with the gear 25 for driving the roll 30.

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The periphery of the guide roll 30 is spaced from the surface of the feed roll 16 and is positioned to feed the yarn around the portion of the feed roll 16 into the bite of the rolls 15 and 16. The guide roll 30 may be so positioned as to guide the yarn directly into the bite of the feed rolls 15 and 16, if desired. The gears 34 and 35 are made in a ratio other than 1 to 1 so as to prevent the yarn from wearing a groove in the surface of the rolls 15 or 16.

A plug 35 rests upon the mass of crimped yarn in the tube 12 and has a bore 36 through which the yarn passes on its way to delivery rolls 38. A pair of tensioning discs 39 is disposed to engage the yarn in advance of the guide roll 30 so as to maintain the yarn in the groove 31 as the guide roll 30 rotates. A heating element such as a Calrod 41 is disposed in the housing 10 for heating the mass of crimped fibers to the temperature required for setting the crimp.

In operation the fibers 40 are fed through tensioning discs 39 into the groove 31 in the guide roll 30, thence around the feed roll 16, to the bite of the rolls 15 and 16 which feed the yarn into the crimping zone in the tube 12 against the pressure of a mass of crimped fibers held compacted in the tube 12 to cause the incoming fibers to be folded over and ciimped in a saw tooth crimp. The mass of fibers is advanced along the tube by the pressure of the incoming fibers while being subjected to heat from the Calrod 41. The crimped fibers are withdrawn from the upper end of the chamber through the bore 36 in the plug 35 which is adapted to provide the necessary back pressure on the mass of fibers in the tube 12 for holding the crimp in the fibers during the heat-setting stage. The crimp-set fibers are withdrawn by delivery rolls 3S and fed to a suitable winder, not shown.

Due to the inclined plane of the groove 31 the yarn is reciprocated axially of the feed rolls 15 and 16, thereby varying the feed of the crimped fibers diametrically of the tube 12 so as to maintain uniform conditions throughout the entire cross sectional area of the tube. The traverse produced by the guide roll 30 may be somewhat greater than the diameter of the tube 12 and the rate of the traverse may be varied across the diameter of the tube by a suitable design of the groove 31 so as to distribute the mass of crimped fibers uniformly in the tube.

While the guide roll has been shown as positively driven, the roll may be driven solely by contact with the feed roll 16 if desired, in which case the guide roll is made of a difierent diameter than the feed roll so as to prevent the fibers from wearing a groove in the surface of the feed roll.

In the embodiment the feed roll 15 is held in constant pressure engagement with the yarn by the weight 20 which may be replaced or altered from time to time as required according to the type of fibers which are being processed.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3 the reciprocating feed is obtained by means of a roll 55 having a peripheral groove 56 for guiding the yarn. The roll 55 is mounted on a sphere 57 secured on a sleeve 58.

The sleeve 58 carries at its end a disc 59 in which adjusting screws 60 are threaded. The screws 60 engage the side of the roll 55 and may be adjusted to vary the tilt of the roll 55 with respect to the axis of the sleeve 58 for changing the traverse. The disc 59 is grooved to receive a driving belt 64 by which the roll 55 is driven.

The sleeve 58 is journaled on a tube 61 carried by a bolt 62 secured in an adjustable bracket 63 of the housing 10. The construction of the remainder of the crimping apparatus is the same as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and corresponding parts have been identified by the same reference numbers.

The guide roll 55 may be driven in the same direction r 3 as the feed roll 16 but at a different peripheral speed or may be driven in the opposite direction.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4 the reciprocating feed is provided by a feed bar 65 slidably held in brackets 66 by screws 67 passing through slots 68 in the bar. The bar is provided with a transverse hole 69 at one end through which the yarn passes to the bite of the feed rolls 15 and 16.

The bar 65 is formed with a rounded end 70 which is held against a cam disc 74 which is mounted on the shaft 17 of the feed roll 16. The cam disc 74 is shown as having a thin flexible part 75 and a rigid part 77. The flexible part 75 is adjusted by a set screw 78 threaded in the rigid part 77 for varying the pitch of the cam surface so as to adjust the traverse. A tension spring 80 holds the end 70 of the bar 65 in' contact with the cam disc 74. This spring 80 extends between a screw 67 and a pin 81 on the bar 65.

The construction of the feed rolls and crimping chamber is otherwise the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The operation of the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 is similar to that of FIGS. 1 and 2.

in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, the general arrangement is such as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the corresponding parts have been given the same reference numerals with the suffix a. In this embodiment the crimping chamber is formed by a tube 12a which is rectangular in cross section and is provided with end walls 85 and side walls 86. One of the end walls 85 is provided with an axial bore 87 in which a heating element 88, such as a Calrod is disposed.

This heating element extends over the lower portion of the chamber 12a for heating the same, leaving the upper portion of the chamber 12a as a cooling zone so that the fibers may be cooled below the setting temperature before they are discharged. The plug 35a is a rectangular section -to fit in the chamber 12a and is provided with a rectangular bore 36a through which the fibers are extracted.

The end walls 85 of the chamber 12a extend downwardly over the ends of the feed rolls 15a and 16a to .form with the bite of the feed rolls a closed crimping zone.

In this embodiment a guide roll 30a is provided with a double helical groove 31a which is so shaped that the fibers which are guided by this groove make a complete traverse from one side of the chamber 12a to the other during a 360 rotation of the guide roll 30a and return to the first side of the chamber during the next 360 rotation of the guide roll.

The groove 31a is so designed that the rate of traverse is varied as required to obtain a uniform distribution of the fibers across the entire width of the chamber 12a. The guide roll 30a is driven by a gear 34a as in FIG. 1. The construction and operation of this embodiment is otherwise similar to that described above. It will be noted that using a rectangular chamber and providing a guide roll with a traverse which extends parallel to the side walls '86, the fibers may be more uniformly packed than in the case of circular cross section. Furthermore, a more uniform heat transfer is obtained since the side walls 86 transfer heat to the fibers across the entire face of the chamber and the chamber is relatively thin in the transverse direction. The fibers are more rapidly cooled in the cooling zone for the same reason.

Obviously the capacity of the crimping apparatus can be increased by increasing the width of the chamber 12a while maintaining the chamber relatively thin in the transverse direction so as to maintain substantially the same heat transfer characteristics.

In the drawings the heating unit 88 is shown as disposed in one of the end walls 85. It is to be understood, of course, that the heating unit can be applied directly to one of the side walls 86 if desired. a

The embodiment shown in FIG. 9 difiers from that shown in the preceding figures in that the guide roll 30b of FIG. 9 is carried on a bracket which is pivoted at 91. The guide roll 3% is held against the periphery of the feed roll 16b by means of a weight 92 which is attached to the bracket 90. The remaining figures correspond to those of FIGS. 1 and 2 and have been given the same reference numerals with the sufiix b. In this embodiment the guide roll 30b is driven solely by the contact with the rotating feed roll 16b. The operation is otherwise similar to that of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Obviously other mechanism may be used for the above purpose as will be apparent to a person skilled in the art. Only representative forms have been set forth.

What is claimed is:

l. A stuffer crimper comprising a member forming an elongated crimping chamber, feed rolls disposed to feed yarn or the like into one end of said chamber against the pressure of a mass of crimped yarn held compacted therein whereby said yarn is folded over and crimped as it enters said chamber, guide means positioned to guide said yarn in its passage to said feed rolls, said guide means including means to reciprocate said yarn axially of said feed rolls for causing said yarn to be distributed uniformly within said crimping chamber.

2. A stuifer crimper as set forth in claim 1 in which said chamber is of rectangular cross section and is formed by side and end walls and said feed rolls are disposed with their axes parallel to said side walls.

3. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 2 having heating means disposed to apply heat to said walls.

4. A stuffer crimper comprising a member forming an elongated crimping chamber, feed rolls disposed to feed yarn or the like into one end of said chamber against the pressure of a mass of crimped yarn held compacted therein whereby said yarn is folded over and crimped as it enters said chamber, a guide roll having a peripheral groove positioned in advance of said feed rolls for guiding said yarn thereto, said groove lying in a plane which is tilted with respect to the normal to the axis of said feed roll whereby said yarn is reciprocated axially of said feed rolls for distributing said yarn uniformly within said chamber.

5. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which said guide roll is spaced from said feed rolls and gear means is provided for positively driving said guide roll with said feed rolls.

6. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which said guide roll is mounted for movement relative to said feed rolls and means is provided to hold said guide roll in pressure engagement with one of said feed rolls to be driven thereby.

7. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which the axis of said guide roll lies parallel to the axes of said feed rolls and said groove is of helical form.

8. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which said groove is disposed to effect a complete traverse of said yarn during a rotation of said feed roll.

9. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which said groove is disposed to effect a complete traverse of said yarn during a 360 rotation of said feed roll.

10. A stuffer crimper comprising a member forming an elongated crimping chamber, feed rolls disposed to feed yarn or the like into one end of said chamber against the pressure of a mass of crimped yarn held compacted therein whereby said yarn is folded over and crimped as it enters said chamber, a guide roll having a peripheral groove positioned in advance of said feed rolls for guiding said yarn thereto, a shaft carrying said guide roll and means tilting said guide roll with respect to the axis of said shaft for reciprocating said yarn axially of said feed rolls for distributing said yarn uniformly within said chamber.

11. A crimping apparatus as set forth in claim 10 having means for adjusting the angle of tilt of said guide roll on said shaft.

12. A stuffer crimper comprising a member forming an elongated crimping chamber, feed rolls disposed to feed yarn or the like into one end of said chamber against the pressure of a mass of crimped yarn held compacted therein whereby said yarn is folded over and crimped as it enters said chamber, and a guide bar having a yarn guide therein, said bar being mounted for sliding movement in a direction parallel to the axis of said feed rolls, means driving said feed rolls, and means connected to said drive means to cause said bar to reciprocate axially during the operation of said feed rolls for distributing said yarn uniformly within said chamber.

13. A stufier crimper comprising a member forming an elongated crimping chamber, feed rolls disposed to feed yarn or the like into one end of said chamber against the pressure of a mass of crimped yarn held compacted therein whereby said yarn is folded over and crimped as it enters said chamber, a guide bar having a yarn guide therein, said bar being mounted for sliding movement References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,206,360 Litty July 2, 1940 2,508,489 Browne et a1. May 23, 1950 2,740,992 Shattuck Apr. 10, 1956 2,854,701 Rainard Oct. 7, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,638 Great Britain Of 1914 

